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Friday tidbits: Lohse, Pujols, DeRosa

Greetings from Cincinnati, where it’s a cloudy but very nice night, mild with a little breeze. If it clears up at all, should be a great night for fireworks.

* Kyle Lohse said that his first rehab outing, on Thursday night in Springfield, went just about how it looked in the box score. He started out a little shaky, got sharp in the middle innings and faded in his last inning as he came up against his pitch count.

“It took me a little time to see what was working,” Lohse said. “Kind of a little erratic. But then, the second, third and fourth, I felt like I was back in the groove. Fastballs down, hitting corners. And then the fifth inning, a single on a fastball down the middle, got an out, then a bunt hit, then a walk. So it was just not really the way I wanted to finish it off, but I still felt good.”

Lohse’s next start is scheduled for Tuesday at Triple-A Memphis, which would put him right on line to pitch on the final day of the first half, the Sunday, July 12 doubleheader against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

“I’ll only get one start before the end of the half, so I might as well go into it feeling a little better,” he said. “Not that I don’t feel good about what I was able to do, but it will give me a chance to throw some more pitches and work on command of the fastball a little more.”

* As you’ve no doubt heard by now, Albert Pujols was named the National League Player of the Month on Friday. That makes twice in three months. The other NL winners were Tim Lincecum (pitcher) and Tommy Hanson (rookie).

* TLR said that Mark DeRosa is coming along well but remains unavailable to swing a bat.

“He’s actually making progress,” La Russa said. “He could defend or run the bases, but he can’t hit for today. We’ll go day to day.”

DeRosa won’t start until at least Tuesday.

* The Cardinals join everyone else in baseball in donning commemorative caps for this holiday weekend. Every team is wearing red caps with the team logo covered by a stars-and-stripes pattern.

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On an unrelated issue, why does TLR insiston starting Thurston? He can’t hit, .219 BA. Cannot run the bases witness the times he has been picked off at 2nd and 1st and thrown out at 3rd trying to stretch doubles to triples. He has made countless fielding errors at crucials times. Yet, Tony insists on starting him at third at least twice a week. Is he trying to lose? People speak critically of Duncan. He is an All Star compared to Thurston.

On an unrelated issue, why does TLR insiston starting Thurston? He can’t hit, .219 BA. Cannot run the bases witness the times he has been picked off at 2nd and 1st and thrown out at 3rd trying to stretch doubles to triples. He has made countless fielding errors at crucials times. Yet, Tony insists on starting him at third at least twice a week. Is he trying to lose? People speak critically of Duncan. He is an All Star compared to Thurston.

Rasmus couldn’t start but comes off the bench for two key hits tonite while Ankiel, Thurston and Dunc go hitless (again) and Thurston adds to his club leading 10 errors. How could Tyler Greene do much worse? I think TLR is a great mgr. His having survived scores of other managers speaks loads, but he needs to have some second thoughts about his preference for giving so much playing time to Dunc and Joe T.

Agreed, it’s time for Thurston to go; that’s obvious, so why discuss it? On a (much) more positive note, can you IMAGINE what must be going through Hoffpauir’s head right now? First time he shows up in the bigs, he reaches base twice, is on first when the greatest player of his generation hits an epochal grand slam, knocks in the game winner … and then gets enfolded in a Pujols hug, which must be akin to being embraced by a bulldozer, at the end of the thing. Welcome to the Show, kid.

Stanthemanfan – I get so wrapped around the axle about a couple of the Cards players that I neglect the positive (although I did post a very positive piece on Wellemeyer the other day). Hoffpauir’s debut was the stuff dreams are made of. He may never have another day as big as yesterday. I wasn’t too keen on Rasmus in April but he has shown himself to be very capable. Let’s pull for him to make NL ROY. He continues to improve against LHP’s, hit 333 last month and is 5 for 10 this month.

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